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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Interesting premise but it took forever to get the case solved. Too many characters and too much description of their lives. Woman enters a private clinic to have a scar from childhood removed because she was 'no longer in need of it.' Needless to say she's murdered. Listened to audiobook, wouldn't have bothered to finish reading the hard copy. (  ) Kathy89 | Nov 13, 2009 |  Excellent whyteb | Nov 8, 2009 | I am a P.D James fan, but I did not enjoy this book. The plot was weak and the characters very dated. The young couple who worked in the kitchen at the private hospital were specially irritating, they might have had these attitudes fifty years ago, but they did not behave as young skilled working class people does nowadays. Very disappointing. ( ) alalba | Oct 25, 2009 | There are signs that this may be the last Adam Dalgliesh mystery: rumours of the squad's demise, and doubts amongst the team are peppered throughout this book. I enjoyed the read but, can see that there is only so far that this series can go; and it may have reached its natural conclusion. As with most of the stories in the collection, this tale begins with a hundred plus pages building an air of foreboding. The scene is a well to do private clinic set in the countryside and the characters, who seemingly have everything going for them, all carry dark secrets. It is a closed community and so, inevitably, each person knows something of the other characters' hidden past but nobody knows it all. An investigative journalist books in for an operation to remove a scar and the underlying enmities lead to deadly circumstances. This is so clichéd that, in the hands of a less skilled writer, it would have become poor fare. P D James manages to retain the interest and, although the murderer becomes obvious before the end, James keeps an ace up her sleeve for the last few pages. The book does exactly what one expects of a good whodunnit; it is an unputdownable read. Thank you Commander Dalgliesh, I have enjoyed following your career. (  )1  the.ken.petersen | Sep 14, 2009 | Strong characters, twisting plot, stone circles, great setting. Very British. July '09 ( ) audryh | Jul 28, 2009 |  no reviews | add a review
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| Book description |
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Cheverell Manor is a lovely old house in deepest Dorset, now a private clinic belonging to the famous plastic surgeon George Chandler-Powell. When investigative journalist Rhoda Gradwyn arrived there one late autumn afternoon, scheduled to have a disfiguring and long-standing facial scar removed, she had every expectation of a successful operation and a pleasant week recuperating.
Two days later she was dead, the victim of murder.
To Commander Adam Dalgliesh, who with his team is called in to investigate the case, the mystery at first seems absolute. Few things about it make sense. Yet as the detectives begin probing the lives and backgrounds of those connected with the dead woman—the surgeon, members of the manor staff, close acquaintances—suspects multiply all too rapidly. New confusions arise, including strange historical overtones of madness and a lynching 350 years in the past. Then there is a second murder, and Dalgliesh finds himself confronted by issues even more challenging than innocence or guilt.
P. D. James has gained an enviable reputation for creating detective stories of uncommon depth and intricacy, combined with the sort of humanity and perceptiveness found only in the finest novelists. The Private Patient ranks among her very best.
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:05 -0400)
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